midnight flower
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: a knight in shining armor, the best of the best kakashi was the greatest knight of the realm. but his king has decided that he should marry his recently orphaned niece. throw in an intresting kid trying to keep kakashi from his bride
1. Chapter 1

The large ordinate doors opened before him as he walked on the red velvet coverings on the floor. His cold eyes scanning the faces in the sea of people on either side of him out of habit more than interest. As always, there were too many lords, too many painted lady's, and of course the whores of the court. Many of whom brightened and pushed aside the males speaking with them to see him more clearly as he strode forward and then dropped to one knee in front of his King.

His lord and master, Sarutobi Hurizen had called him from the battle field to speak with him about a something that he had felt required his best knight's attention immediately.

Hurizen stared at the young man, he was an impressive sight even on his knee, his long silver hair slipping over the gleaming silvery white of his armor to frame his face as he raised his head to look at him with his shockingly enchanting mis matched eyes, one dark blue and another a vivid red. Sarutobi smiled at the knight, he really did like this young man. He was a good soilder, a great general and leader, he had earned many victories for his king, and now Sarutobi finally knew of a way to repay him.

He knew of Kakashi's secret dream of having his own land, his own people to lead and protect. And he even knew of a way to give those things to him.

He would have him marry his former friend's daughter and reside in her castle, and protect her people. "I have decided that you should marry, Kakashi. What do you think of that?"

"If that is my king's will, then I shall obey." Kakashi said respectfully, though inside he was a bit puzzled that his king would bring this up now. Kakashi was still young, only twenty and two winters of age. Still in his prime, still virile. There was plenty of time for him to marry and settle down.

"It is my will. And I have chosen your bride carefully knowing your tastes in women..."

Kakashi visibly tensed, and risisted the urge to cringe. Oh dear god, no. He didn't want to be bound to a clingy, shrill voiced shrew until the day he died. It was one thing for him to bed them, it was another to stay with them. He would rather be boiled alive than marry such a contemptable and vile creature! "My king..."

Sarutobi silenced him with a wave of his arm, he understood very well the man's need to protest, but really there was no need. Sarutobi had picked someone that he knew Kakashi would adore, cherish and dote on. The girl in question was currently awaiting the new lord of her strong hold and defending the castle and it's lands single handedly, something that worried and amused him. She would keep Kakashi entertained well into his twilight years.

"The girl that I have picked is a niece of mine..." Kakashi stared at him in shock. His heart thudding in his chest. He wanted to ask if his king was jesting with him, but the serious look on his face told him all that he needed to know.

"She is...exceptional Kakashi. Fierce, brave, strong, loyal, she has many of the traits that you yourself are so admired for. And right now she is alone, trying to hold back enemy forces who are trying to take her and her castile as their own. I need you t0o go to her, I need you to secure the castile and the girl."

Sarutobi reached out and picked up a semi large stack of papers tied together with a blue ribbon and handed them to Kakashi who looked down at them for a second before he realised that they were letters. Untouched, unread letters. Sarutobi smiled at the younger man's confused expression. "Those letters are for her furture husband. She has written three of them every month up until now. It will help you get to know her, and understand her better."

Kakashi bowed and was about to leave when his king said something that struck him a particularly odd. _"You will love her Kakashi."_

Kakashi turned his head to look at his king with a frown on his face. "My king?" He asked stupidly. Sarutobi smiled with a far away look on his face.

"You will love her Kakashi. She was born for you and you alone." Kakashi said nothing else, just bowed again and walked away.


	2. Chapter 2

_"You will love her Kakashi."_

Kakashi sat at his desk in his tent, holding one of the letters that his intended bride had written for him, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. It had been three weeks since his visit to the court, and his talk with the king and in those long weeks he found himself looking forward to his letters more and more often. His intended was such a peculiar creature. She spoke to him of sweet and innocent things, things that no one had spoken with him about before.

He laughed at her jokes, the stories of her childhood adventures. He frowned and felt frustrated when she wrote to him telling him of some of the horrors that she had faced. From the great uncle who had tried to kill her, to the village outside of her castle that had been wiped out. She didn't hide her feelings. Her hatred of war and strife, her love of simple things, like the flowers in her gardens and the small children that she watched over when they left the castle for a day's outing.

She told him of her dreams, her desire to meet him, her worry about if he would like her or not.

She told him about finding a wolf cub in the forest and taking it home and raising it, she called it Guardian because the wolf refused to leave her unprotected. She told him of the new litter of kittens born in the kitchen of the castle and of Guardian taking care of them and playing with them.

She asked him questions. Political. Rhetorical. Literal. She quoted poetry to him, and asked him how old he was, what land he hailed from, what his favorite past time was, and who his friends were.

Such sweet and innocent things. He refolded the letter that he had just finished and picked up another and froze, his heart hammering in his chest as his eyes skimmed the page. There were water marks on the page that he knew were from tears and looked over the letter again, his eye immediately drawn to the words

_Dearest one, I think that I'm very scared now. Earlier today my father, mother and ten of their armed guards were killed by the bandits that roam the country side. I am alone now, and that scares me more than anything. _

_I am now at the mercy of people who hated my mother because of what country she came from and the blood that ran through her veins. They would kill me without hesitation if they thought that the king would turn a blind eye to that machinations. _

_It will be difficult. More difficult than anything that I have ever faced before, but I will hold on. I will not die. _

_I will wait here for you. _

_As always, I love you. Please be safe._

He reread the words again and swore. His first instinct was to saddle his war horse and ride the ten miles left to her castle and break down the gate and demand to see her. Gods he wanted to see her. Alive and safe. But she had told him that she would hold on, and he believed her. He held the paper against his chest and imagined that it was her he was holding. His Naru, his sweet and innocent bride.

Naru was woken up by the sound of her bedroom door creaking open, and had to remind herself to stay perfectly still or the one in her room would know that she was awake as she closed her hand around the dagger that she kept under her pillow for protection, and waited as she heard the heavy breathing of her latest would be killer as he drew closer. She could hear him muttering in a soft whispered tone to himself about why she had to die.

She was the daughter of the viking princess, her blood was poison, and would be cleansed with her death.

She hated him already, whoever he was. She could hear the faint rustling of clothes and see his shadow as he raised his hand, clutching a dagger like her own and started to bring it down when she rolled over out of harms way and thrust her blade into his neck, yanking it viciously to the side almost severing the head from the body. And let the body fall to the floor and she heard Guardian howl from the room next door.

Ah, so that's how the man got past her wolf. He had lured him into the room next the to her own and locked him in. She wiped some of the blood from her face, and hands and got out of her bed and walked across the room and opened the door to calm her wolf.

He whimpered pitifully and jumped up on her, using his front paws to knock her to the floor and licked her face and hands as he rubbed himself against her, his thick white fur tickling her skin. She smiled a bit and pushed him away as Itachi, her cousin by marriage came running through her bedroom door with his sword in hand and nearly tripped over the two of them in his haste to save her.

"Where is he? Where is that bastard that came up here to hurt you-" He looked down at the bodies on the floor and blanched a bit before looking at her. Honestly, couldn't she act like a normal lady of noble birth and simply scream and faint when in danger. Did she feel it was totally necessary to kill anyone who snuck up on her?

He turned his head and gave her a dirty look. "I pity the poor fool you end up marrying, Naru."

"Why?"

"Because your going to end up killing him if he comes up behind you."

"No I won't. I will recognise his presence anywhere." Naru argued as she pushed her pet off of her and scratched him behind the ears before telling him to go find Tiger, one of the kittens from the kitchen that had become the wolf's favorite partner in crime in these past few months and turned to look at him as Guardian went to look for his friend.

Itachi snorted and called her a liar, then looked down at her and stiffened when he saw what she had slept in. His face turned red and he got a funny look on his face before he started to make a choking sound. What the hell was she wearing?

Naru stiffled a yawn behind a small delicately boned hand, causing her shirt to ride up almost to the underside of her breasts. "Y-Y-You-wh-wh-what are you...You were outside the castle walls training again!" Itachi nearly screamed in rage as he took in her clothes, she was wearing an extremely short cut shirt, soft deer leather pants that laced up the sides reveling a little bit of skin of his legs and upper thighs, and hips, showing off the slender curves of her legs, her flat stomach, and lush breasts.

Naru blinked at his accusing tone. Well, he was half right, but he didn't need to know that. She had trained a bit, but after she had finished she had slipped into the enemy camp and slit a few throats and stolen some of their gold and silver coins. Keeping the castle running and it's people fed was a difficult thing to do when they had an small army camping right outside of their gates, especially since they didn't have a way to get to the cattle or sheep outside the walls.

And assassination attempts aside, she had enough time to play with the children, train with the warriors, and set traps when she wasn't stealing into the enemy camp and killing some of their men and stealing their valuables right from under their noses.

"How many did you kill last night?" Itachi asked as he noted how pale her face was and the dark circles under her blueish purple eyes.

She grinned at him and walked around him and over to the chest next to the fire place and opened it and opened it. "Come here and see for yourself."

"You haven't been hiding bodies in there right?"

She giggled, the sound was like the soft chiming of bells. So sweet and child like, much like the girl herself when she wasn't running herself ragged trying to keep them all alive. "It would be stupid of me to hide a body in such an obvious place. I would rather hide them in the guarders down the hall." Itachi cringed, wow that was evil. It was one thing to kill someone so easily but to stuff them where everyone went to the bathroom too.

It was no secret among the inhabitants of the castle that she was hated because of her mothers blood. It was also no secret that she killed like her parents had trained her too. She was the one in charge of the castle, she was the one that protected them, killed for them, stole for them. It wasn't her fault that everyone was so wary and scared of her. They didn't even know her. They all merely assumed that she was a dark and evil presence that had taken refuge in their home, but it wasn't really their home. It was hers.

They were the dark and evil ones who wouldn't leave her alone. He always wondered why she didn't just send everyone who hated her away, but he admired her for her efforts to make peace with them even though it was costing her so much. He leaned over her shoulder and looked into the chest and gasped in shock. There in the chest was a kings ransom in gold, silver, and semi precious gems and jewels.

She looked up at him and grinned before moving aside and flipping open the lid of another chest that she had hidden under her bed and pulled it out. He gaped at her as she pulled out the silks and satins and velvets, and cottons that she had stolen from the caravan of mountain theives that she had run across several months ago.

"Naru, there's enough gold and silver and such to keep the castle and it's people fed and happy for many, many years..." He said in awe as he reached out and picked up a gem, a ruby as big as two gold coins.

Naru smiled, he was right. There was also enough to buy new land, new cattle, and sheep, some more chickens and horses, repair the old chapel, buy new furniture and she even had enough set aside to serve as her dowry and to buy three ships so that they could start a trade with merchants from across the ocean.

"Is'nt it wonderful." Naru said happily, like she had'nt a care in the world. Itachi smiled at her. Such a thoughtful child.

"I take it back. Any man who marrys you would be a very lucky." Naru smiled at him and felt an odd pang in her chest. She knew that he was right, but part of her couldn't help but think that whoever married her would be utterly miserable.


	3. Chapter 3

It was a bit past mid day when the enemy forces were completely wiped out by an unknown army carrying a flag with a white wolf's head on it. And Naru felt like banging her head against something in frustration. She gets rid of one enemy only to have it replaced by another! And to make matters worse she was outside the castle walls playing with the children when several riders started to approach them.

"Itachi-" Naru said in an almost bored, sing song type of voice as she watched the approching riders. Her cousin ushered his younger brother and the children inside of the gate and had the guards on stand by to close the gate when they got his order.

Itachi cringed at that tone of voice. It was the same tone of voice that she used when she was going to have him aid her in one of her endevers. Which usually ended with him being in trouble with King Sarutobi. He gnashed his teeth. Ohh he hated that tone!

"Yes, Naru."

"Give me your bow and quiver of arrows and go inside and close the gate." Naru said gently as she stood up from the tree stump that she had been sitting on and grabbed his bow and pulled the quiver of arrows off of his shoulder. He opened his mouth to protest but knew it was pointless, the damn girl would'nt listen to reason anyways.

He sighed and walked away as she called out, "And be sure to watch what happens."

He felt his hair stand up on the nape of his neck, that didn't sound good. Not one little bit.

Kakashi stopped his horse thirty feet from the lad standing in his way and looked the boy over. He could'nt be any older than ten and four, still technically a child, and yet he was standing inbetween Kakashi and his new home, inbetween him and his bride. _He's a brave one._ He thought as he looked the boy over and noted the almost angelic features, the long soft blond hair, the wide innocent looking blueish purple eyes. He blinked, he had never seen such eyes before.

"May I be so bold as to ask who you are, my Lords?" The boy asked the knights. A hint of a smile curving his lips. He looked amused to see them.

"I am Lord Hatake, the King's White Wolf. I have been sent to protect the people of this land and to marry the Lady of the castle." Kakashi said to the boy and noticed that the lad didn't even react, didn't blink or anything. After a second or so of silence the boy sighed.

"Then you have my congradulation's sir knight. However, we are not such trusting people that we would let you ride through our gate without confirming your words first." The boy said with a blank expression, despite the smile still being firmly in place.

Kakashi frowned. He had not expected this. He had thought that the people of his new home would be foolish and easily swayed. Had hoped that they would let him in easily and without question but he supposed that he should have expected this since an enemy army had been on there doorstep for so long. "And if I cannot prove it?" He asked curiously and the boy looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Then a simple letter to the king will solve everything, if you will allow it and the rider carrying it to pass that is." It sounded like a reasonable request.

Kakashi nodded his head. "Very well, we will camp out here and wait for the king's reply."

"Thats good. But you should know-" The boy pulled out an arrow and notched his bow, at first Kakashi thought that he was going to shoot him, but then he noticed that the boy was'nt aiming for him, but something in the trees beyond him and released the arrow. Kakashi turned his head around to see what the boy was shooting at when there was a dull thudding sound of the arrow hitting wood and then a loud series of screams coming from his men as several large couldrens of horse manure was dumped onto their heads.

Kakashi openly gaped at the sight of his men falling off of their horses covered in horse manure, yelling and screaming and curseing before turning back to look at the boy. Caught somewhere between outrage and amusment, honestly he had never seen such a devistating attack before. The lad grinned at him, his strange eyes glittering like gems. "I won't take it easy on you either way. If you want into the castle, you have to get through me first."

Kakashi felt a smile curving his lips. Well if the lad wanted to play war, he supposed that it would'nt be such a bad thing to indulge him. At least until the king replied to the boy's letter. "Very well lad, but I won't go easy on you either." The boy nodded and gave a quick bow to him then turned and walked off.

_This could be fun._ It had been many years since someone had so boldly challenged him, and he had never been the type to back down or run away regardless of the odds. So taking on one small boy should'nt be too difficult. Right?


	4. Chapter 4

A sen night later Kakashi realised that he was a bloody fool. The young lad had been slipping into his camp and wrecking havoc everywhere. His men were so wary of the boy now that they were starting to get frightened of their own shadows. The boy had damaged their weapons, dinged their armor, slipped something into the food and drink of his men and cause them all to become ill, not deathly so; but ill just the same.

The brat had even stolen their horses. All three hundred and ten of them!

He had even slipped into Kakashi's tent one night and had stolen the journal that he had kept since he left his home and family as a young boy and become a soldier for the king. It wasn't that Kakashi minded so much about the small invasion of his privacy, he understood all too well that the lad was probably curious about him and wanted to know something about what kind of person he was.

And that was fine. He would get his journal back when the king replied to the lad's letter.

What did bother him was that the letters that had been given into his keeping by his bride to be had been touched, some of them had even been crushed. Something that he believed was unforgivable, which was why he was faking being asleep this night so that he could catch the boy and put a stop to him once and for all. He had been in his bed dozing when he heard the familiar sounds of foot falls on the crisp green grass.

It was slight, only the smallest of stirrings as the boy paused at the foot of his bed. Kakashi watched him somewhat warily considering how much trouble he had caused him. The boy stood there for several minutes simply watching him. He made sure to keep the rise and fall of his chest steady and wanted to grab the boy when he inched in closer, at first Kakashi thought that the boy was going to try and kill him or something, his body tensed under the covers around his hips.

But instead the boy just pulled the blanket up to his shoulders and gently and subtly tucked him in before moving away to the other side of the tent and pulled something out of his shirt and placed it on Kakashi's desk and then turned to leave. Kakashi frowned, there was something odd about the way that the boy was acting tonight. It took a few seconds to realise that the boy was limping, and was favoring his left side, his hand pressed against his side as if...

Kakashi sucked in a breath as realisation dawned on him. The boy was wounded. He could smell the faintly sweet metallic scent of blood coming from the boy and decided to make his move as the boy made his way back to the small entrance that he had made in Kakashi's tent and was about to slip through when a pair of arms wrapped around his small body and lifted him up.

Naru screamed in surprise. She couldn't help it, there were very few men who could mask their presence so perfectly as to catch her by surprise. She might have screamed again but she suddenly found herself held tightly against a hard muscled body with a hand over her mouth. "Shhh, quiet little one. It's just me." Kakashi said softly next to her ear, his breath making her shiver as her heart sped up in her chest.

"Your wounded. How badly?" Kakashi asked as he pulled the boy over to his bed and threw the boy down on it and pinning him in place as he reached over him and lit a candle so that he could see a bit better. The boy blinked and made a strained sound before looking at him.

"Does it matter?"

"It does. I hate to fight against those weaker than myself." Not that he thought the boy was that weak, he got a strange thrill from the boy that bordered on excitement. Even now he felt that strange thrill that went strait to his-

Kakashi blinked and cocked his head, well that was weird. Kakashi wasn't a stranger to sexual desire, but he found it very odd that he was starting to feel such things for the boy pinned under him on his bed. Especially since he only found women intresting. But this boy, this child, this...brat had been tying him up in knots for weeks now. He had just never been close enough to feel such a reaction to the boy's presence before. So this was a bit enlightening. It would certainly explain why he hadn't killed the boy.

He was attracted to him. "How bad is the wound?" He asked again, his fingers itching to yank the material of the lad's shirt up over his head.

"It's a flesh wound, nothing to worry about much. It just burns." The boy said as he reached up and pushed against him, the second his small hand touched Kakashi; his heart lurched in his chest and he grasped the boy's shirt and yanked him up and pressed his lips against his.

Naru's world went pitch black in shock. Her breathing hitched and she opened her mouth to protest and felt something warm and wet slip inside of her mouth. _Eekk!_ What the hell was he doing? She wondered as her eyes widened and she stared at him as he ravished her mouth. He lifted his mouth a few seconds later to stare at the boy's face, mostly to see what was wrong. The kid had gone so still.

The look on the kid's face was one of comical horror, he looked so scandalized. "W-What the hell? Why would you- Goddamn it!" The boy gave a strong enough shove to topple Kakashi off of him and climbed to his feet and glared at the knight.

"How dare you. Are'nt you supossed to be here to marry the lady of the castle? Does _fidelity_mean nothing to you? You son of a-" Kakashi was on his feet in a flash, he understood the boy's anger over his actions but he allowed no one to insult his mother or father. He wrapped his fingers around the boy's throat and used the fingers of his other hand to dig into the boy's wound and almost smiled at the soft cry of pain that escaped the boy's lips before he claimed them again.

"Fidelity means everything to me. But I am not married yet, and _you_little one fascinate me. I like your fire, your warmth, your cleverness, and your _loyalty_to the ones inside of the castle. Your so fierce, so strong. It makes me want to claim you and crush you all at once." Kakashi said against the boy's lips as he removed his fingers from the wound and dropped the boy back on his bed.

The kid looked like he belonged there.

Naru landed on her back and curled up on her uninjured side cursing. Oh god that hurt. What kind of man did such a thing to a child? Or rather someone that he believed was a child? Kakashi looked at the blood on his fingertips with a blank expression for a second before grabbing her shoulder and flipping her onto her back and grasping the hem of her shirt.

There was a lot more blood than there should have been on his fingers fro just a flesh wound, meaning that either the boy had been lying (something that he was starting to think was the case) or the boy was merely trying to keep from looking weak in front of him, another thing that he feared was the truth.

He saw the brief flare of fear in the boy's eyes as he started to pull his shirt up.

"No! Wait! What the hell are you doing? Stop it!" The boy grabbed his shirt and tried to hold it down in place, and Kakashi growled in annoyance, slapped the boy's hands away and yanked the soft cotton up and froze.

Blinking in suprise. Were those...breasts? He opened his mouth to ask but didn't get far when the boy-er girl poked him in the eyes, planted a foot in his chest and kicked him off of the bed then bolted away somewhere into the night as he laughed and cried all at once.

This was defantly a first for him. Being attracted to a waif like girl, kicked out of his own bed and humiliated. So natrually he was dying to see her again on the morrow.


	5. Chapter 5

Naru stumbled into her room feeling weak and shaky. Her side burned like fire as blood seeped down her side, ran down her leg, dripped onto the floor as she kicked the door closed and made her way over to the bed and collapsed. Uh, she didn't feel well at all. Probably because she had lost more blood than she should have. Dark spots were fading in and out of her vision and she knew that she was going to lose consciousness soon.

She sighed tiredly and stretched out on her wounded side on the bed, and flinched as she felt a shaft of pain tear through the soft tissues of her side. "Ow." She hissed softly as she took several moments to breathe through the pain as she thought about the knight. He was a strange one. There was no doubt about that.

And his lips... They had been so soft for a man so fierce.

She shivered and curled up on her wounded side, hoping that the bleeding would stop soon. She needed to bandage the wound and get some rest. Due to the wound in her side she wouldn't be causing mischief for the next few days. And she was worried that the king's letter would return any day now. She sighed and closed her eyes and didn't even realise that she had gone to sleep until her cousin woke her a short time later.

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Kakashi sat in front of the roaring fire, staring into the flames, a wine skin firmly grasped in his hand. He and his men had been terrorized by a female. A small one and young female, but a female just the same. And such a fierce and enigmatic female.

_I wish she were the woman I was ordered to wed. _Kakashi thought as he took a drink of wine from his wine skin and looked at the dry blood on his finger tips. His heart aching in his chest as he remembered in vivid detail, digging his fingers into her wounded side to prove a point. He felt a stab of guilt and knew that he would have to find her and apologise to her as soon as he could.

But his plans to do so were cut short when a rider bearing the king's crest came riding up to his soldiers and asked for him. Kakashi set his wine skin aside and stood up as the rider came into the camp and climbed down from the horse and walked up to him. "Good eve, my lord." The rider said politely as he walked up to Kakashi as he was standing.

Kakashi's mis matched eyes studied the young man as he smiled and politely greeted him. "Has the missive that was sent reached the king?" Kakashi asked curiously. The young man nodded his head and fished through the satchel attached to his saddle and pulled out a letter with the king's crest in wax on it.

"Our lord and king sent this to you sire. He said that I was to ride day and night without rest until it was in your hands." The man said as he handed the letter to Kakashi and stood there silently while Kakashi cracked open the wax seal and read the short letter.

_Having trouble already eh, Wolf? _

_Well, this should appease the people of the castle. _

_I just hope that it reaches you and your men before it's too late. The one who sent the missive to me is quite the hand full. _

_You have my permission to enter the castle. Let the one named Itachi see this letter, or the girl will not let you inside. _

Kakashi read the letter three times before snorting in amusement. The damn lord had known all along that the young girl would oppose him and deny him entry to the castle. So why hadn't he warned him? Kakashi wondered as he looked at the rider. "Asuma! Give our young friend some food, wine and a place to sleep. He has to return to the palace soon and will need his rest." Kakashi said as his second in command walked up.

"Yes sire." Asuma said as he motioned for the lad to follow him as Kakashi sat back down and looked over the letter again.

There was something just a bit suspicious about the wording that the king had used in his letter. Almost as if he knew-

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And that's all your getting for now. Live with it.


	6. Chapter 6

I'm skipping head a little bit to get the story going again.

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Kakashi walked ino the hall of the castle like he owned the place and looked over the people laughing and eating in the room and noted various things. 1) Lady Naru wasn't present. 2) Someone else was sitting in her chair at he head of the table. 3) The man's lack of respect for his bride to be pissed him off. An 4) He was going thrash the man soundly once he found Naru.

The heavy wooden doors slammed closed behind him and everyone in the room stopped what they were doing to look at him. "Good morning lads and ladies. Where might I find the lady of the castle?"

Someone pointed at him andtood up from the table. "You're that lord! The one that the king sent to take the castle demon away!" Kakashi frowned and stared at the man with his eerie mis matched eyes. Demon? What demon was the fellow talking about?

"The king's white wolf!" Someone else said excitedly. There was a loud murmurer from the people sitting at the table. Kakashi sighed and ran his fingers through his long silver hair, god what was with these people? Was he going to have to repeat himself? He was sure that he had asked a very simple question.

"Lady Naru. Where is she?"

"Dead in her grave if the good lord is willing." Someone else said, and everyone in the hall laughed as if a funny joke had just been told. Kakashi frowned and made a mental note to adjust the man's attitude once he was sure that his bride to be was alive and well, considering that her own people seemed to think that she was undeserving of every breath that she took. _The fools._ They had no concept of what that poor girl had gone through. No concern for the one who had suffered silently for their sake all these years.

But Kakashi knew.

He was a knight. A soldier for the king.

He knew sorrow.

He knew suffering in all it's terrible forms. He'd seen it in varying degree's over the span of his twenty and two winters.

He'd seen it in the faces of his men, in the faces of the enemy's he had slain, in the faces of the women and children left without husbands and fathers. He had seen almost every form of maiming, almost every form of torture that there was to mankind.

And he knew that Naru had suffered. Sure she may not have suffered like he had, but she had still suffered, and that was why the king worried about her to the point of giving her into his care. He knew that Kakashi would be as patient and gentle with her as he could.

So he decided to try asking again. "Lady Naru. Where _is_she?" His tone was icy cold, and brooked no arguments, no more stupid jests, he wanted to know _right now_. Everyone who had been laughing suddenly stopped and someone, a pretty little maid with dark curly hair, an peculiar red eyes pointed to the stairs on the left side of the dining hall.

"Up there my lord. In her tower."

Kakashi walked across the room until he stood in front of the maid and leaned in and brushed his lips across her cheek and whispered, "Thank you." Then made his way over to the stairs and started up them, ignoring he gaping group of swine behind him.

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Itachi finished bandaging her wound and gave her so willow bark tea laced with honey to help her with any pain or infection that she might have and promptly sent her to sleep. Knowing that she would need to rest or the next week or so just to regain her strength. Meaning that she would be vulnerable to attack. _I can't let on that she's been hurt or the people will try to kill her. _Again_. _Itachi thought as he slipped out of his baby cousin's room carrying a bowel of bloody water and scarlet soaked bandages.

He was about to head back to his room to dispose of the bloody bandages and water when he nearly ran into a tall man in dressed in black leather lace up pants, and a bright crimson red shirt. His long silver hair hung well past his shoulders, an he had the most bizarre eyes. One as red as his shirt and the other so dark that it looked like a polished sapphire. "Where is Lady Naru?" The unfamiliar man asked in a deep rumbling, almost purring tone of voice.

Itachi blinked at him in suprise as he got the nagging sense that he had seen this man before. He looked over his shoulder at Naru's bedroom door door an sudenly felt very wary of answering the man.

Kakashi studied the dark haired man, and frowned at th pinkish colored water in the bowel in his hands, noting the bloody bandages in the water and wondered who had been wounded.

A vision of the woman that had enchanted him, and very nearly become an obsession to him, flashed through his mind. Were the blood and bandages hers? Had she lost much blood? Where the devil was she? He wanted to see her again.

He wanted to tell her that he was sorry for flaunting his own strength, and making her feel weak. He wanted to tell her that he was sorry that he had dug his fingers into her wounded side. He watched the man look over his shoulder nervously, at the heavy wooden door behind him and knew deep down in his heart that his Naru was in that room.

Wounded. Bleeding. Maybe even writhng in pain an waiting for someone to comfort her. He pushed the man out of the way before he could react and walked over to the door and opened it and stepped into the room and inhaled sharply.

There laying in the large bed, among a cushion of violet and silver silk, was the enchanting creature that he had longed to see. Her skin was frightningly pale, even among the dark contrast of the violet sheets on her bed. Her long blond hair tangled around her face. "What?" He looked at the dark haired man standing behind him, as recognition finally seeped into the man's mind and he dropped the bowl and bloody bandages, the glass shattered and he pointed at Kakashi and paled a little bit.

"Oh! You're Lord Hatake!"

Gods were all the people in this castle daft or something? Kakashi wondered as he nodded his head. "Very good. Now tell me who this woman is and where Lady Naru can be found."

"Um." The man said as he looked more than a little uncomfortable.

"Well?" Kakashi prompted. His temper starting to rise. Where the bloody hell was his bride?

"T-That _is_ Lady Naru." The man stuttered slightly. Kakashi blinked at him in shock before turning his attention back to the small female sleeping on the bed as a slow smile curved his lips. So the little vixen who had troubled and ensnared his senses was his bride to be. _How wonderful._


	7. Chapter 7

Later that night after seeing that his men were settled, Kakashi, The king's White Wolf. The bane of the viking, and highland army's, sat by the bedside of his intended bride watching her sleep. He still couldn't believe that the lass that had stolen his horses, dinged his armor and frightened his men nearly out of their wits, was the same _sweet _and _innocent_ young girl that had written such beautiful and stirring letters for her intended husband.

She stirred slightly and he leaned forward in his chair and watched her frown before he eyes fluttered open and she looked around the room for a second, not really seeing him at first, because he had seated himself in the corner of the room, hidden himself in the shadows. Her throat worked a little bit before she rasped. "Itachi? Are you here?"

On impulse he he anwsered her, curious to know what she wanted so that he could see to her needs. "Yes Naru."

She pushed the covers back ad struggled for a second or so, but finally managed to sit up on her own, her face pale and damp with sweat. Kakashi frowned. Was she starting to run a fever? She hadn't been earlier, but he understood wounds and how they affected the body more than anyone. He also knew that a fever was a bad sign that could become fatal if the wound had become infected. She blinked her eyes a few times then shifted, the covers around her waist pushed back as she swung her legs over the side of the bed an started to stand.

But her body was still weak, and her balance was off and her legs buckled automatically. Kakashi was up out of his chair and across the room in a instant, his arms wrapping around Naru's slender, lushly curved body, holding her up so that she wouldn't fall and get hurt even more. Naru leaned into the hard male body as her vision dimmed and her head spun. Gods she was dizzy. "Oh... Itachi my head is spinning..." Naru said weakly as she tried to think.

She had something to do tonight. She had to raid the enemy camp again. Slit the throat of the man who had hurt her, steal back the coin and other things that had been taken, give them back to their owners and take what was left over to add to her coveted treasures.

"Itachi...I want you to take my place tonight and go out...t-to the bandit camp and steal back what they have taken." Naru said weakly as she clung to the solid body holding her upright. Kakashi frowned and studied her face before scooping her up and depositing her back into her bed and pulling the covers back up to her shoulders.

Bandits? There were bandits outside of the castle? Roaming his lands, and stealing from his people? And Naru had been going out and sneaking into their camp? His blood ran cold in his veins as he realised what had happened and who had hurt her. Naru, had gone into one of the camps to steal back what had been taken and had been wounded during her escape. Anger simmered in his blood. Quickly morphing into rage.

Someone had dared to strike his bride to be. Someone had foolishly tried to cut her down with a sword. For trying to take back what was hers. Naru lay in the bed, her eyes wide and unfocused, looking up at hm almost pleadingly. This was an important task to her. It would have to be if she had risked her life for it. _Oh you foolish girl. _Kakashi thought as he fixed her a cup of water to drink and set it beside her bed on the small carved oak table then reached out and placed his hand against her forehead.

His hand felt cool against her over heated skin and he surmised that she was at least running a small fever. Nothing to worry about just yet. But it was enough to keep him here in the castle with her, to protect her, and see to it that she was properly taken care of. He could find this Itachi person in a little while and ask him the questions necessary to find out the wear abouts of the bandits and send some of his men to take care of them.

He picked up the silver cup and sat down on the edge of the bed and leaned over Naru. "Do you think you can drink some of this without spilling it?" He asked softly. Naru nodded her head and reached for the cup, but he stopped her. Carefully catching her hands in his and pressing them back against her stomach and tapped her on the tip of the nose.

"One second. I need to help you sit up a little bit." Naru frowned, as if the concept of sitting up for this task hadn't even occurred to her. And technically it hadn't. He could see it in her confusion in her eyes.

"Oh. I'm sorry." Naru said tiredly. Kakashi smiled a little bit and slipped an arm around her shoulders and lifted her up a little bit and put the cup to her lips and tipped it so that she could drink. Once he was sure that she had had enough he set the cup aside and lay her back down.

Naru sighed and settled back against the pillows and closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep. Kakashi sat there for the longest time simply watching the slight rise and fall of her breasts before leaning over her and brushing his lips across hers in a feather light caress then stood up and walked back to his seat and started planning his next move.

Getting rid of the bandits.

And taking revenge on the one who had almost killed _his _precious Naru.


	8. Chapter 8

Itachi was as pale as a ghost when his new lord sought him out a few hours before dawn and woke him up with a firm, almost painful kick to his shoulder. He looked over his shoulder at the man and groaned, only half expecting Naru to be standing there like she usually was, and had to remind himself that Naru was currently indisposed due to a serious wound. But that didn't mean that he was any less irritated even as he glimpsed his new lord standing next to his bed looking like he was about to call down the wrath of the heavens down upon his head.

Lord Kakashi stood there in the half shadows next to his bed wearing a royal blue tunic and dark leather pants with lace up boots, his sword hanging from the snug leather belt slung around his hips, his expression dark and murderous as he glared down at Itachi in obvious disgust. "My lord?" Itachi said stupidly as he slowly sat up and rubbed his face with his hands in an effort to wake up. He needed to be clear minded when dealing with this dangerous man, or Naru may suffer his wrath.

And in her current condition...well, she might not survive his lords wrath.

"Tell me Itachi- That is you're name right?"

"Yes...my lord." Itachi said after a second or so of hesitation, his voice and expression wary. As well he should be. Kakashi thought darkly as his rage churned with in his chest. What the hell kind of man _allowed_ a mere slip of a _girl_ to run about the country side _dressed_ as a man and _stealing_ from murdering bandits?

"What the hell kind of man are you to allow your lady to place herself in such danger? Dealing with the likes of bandits, murderers and thieves." Kakashi growled at the dark haired man as he folded his arms across his chest.

Oh. _Oh._Now Itachi understood why his new lord had come seeking him out. Naru must have gotten a fever and mentions some of the happenings in her delirium. No wonder his lord looked so angry. "Well, sire in my defense...there isn't a man, woman or child in the castle that would dare to try to stop her." Itachi admitted feeling more than a little angered himself by his people's disloyalty to their lady.

They wanted her to die far too much to bother trying to save her from her foolish endeavors. Hung unsaid in the air between himself and his gnashed his teeth so hard that his jaw ached. "That-boy, is no excuse to _let _her endanger her life." Kakashi said angrily, his mis matched eyes smoldering with barely suppressed rage.

Did the man really think that he hadn't tried to stop Naru's foolishness? He had. He had tried to stop her every time she decided to leave the castle, almost every night since the death of her parents. He knew all too well what dangers were lying in wait for helpless little girls without a shred of survival instinct.

But Naru was more armed against those dangers than his lord realised.

The woman had an uncanny ability to spot danger, and an even more uncanny ability to escape relatively unscathed. To put it rather bluntly, Naru had more lives than a bloody cat. She could out ride, out fight, and out wit almost anyone who tried to hurt her.

"You are right, my lord. But lady Naru is a very difficult woman to reason with. She see's what she wants, and she covets it for herself. And my lord, she wants this castle and it's people..._badly_." So badly that she was slowly killing herself in an effort to claim them.

Kakashi shifted slightly on his feet, debating with himself on if he should hit the man in front of him for not protecting Naru better, or if he should send him away altogether.

The only thing stopping him from either one was that it would distress Naru, and he knew he was going to have enough trouble out of the willful little witch than he would know what to do with, and so stopped himself. Figuring that he could come up with a much worse punishment for the man's failure to protect his soon to be bride.

Like making him the nurse maid to his and Naru's future children. All of them since he was feeling vindictive and caring for one child would simply be too easy for the man. No, he would have Naru bear him several. And if the good lord was willing, they would _all_ be stubborn, willful, angelic little _monsters_. Girls, the whole lot of them.

Yes. That would please him greatly.

To have several little blond or silver haired girls running about the castle, laughing and playing, and at night he could sit down with Naru and sit one or two on his lap and tell them bed time stories. But first thing was first. He would have to nurse Naru back to health, marry her, _then_ start building his new life with her.

He pulled a piece of parchment from a small pouch attached to his hip and carefully unfolded it and thrust it into Itachi's face and growled. "Show me where the bandits are." _So that I might find and repay the one who had harmed my bride._

He thought darkly as Itachi pointed to a secluded area just five miles from the castle. Kakashi stared at the place that the man had pointed too and with a low feral sounding growl, turned on his heel and walked out of the bedroom as quietly as he had come in.

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Midday-

After leaving Itachi's chamber, Kakashi had appointed Asuma and two others to guard Naru while he was away and had rode out of the castle with twelve of his men, all of them decked out in armor, and killed every bandit that they came across and returned to the castle bruised, and bloody with several large chests full of gold, silver, and gems. After storing the chests in the cellar of the castle, Kakashi had ordered a bath to be drawn for him and had ordered the guards away and bathed in the room attached to Naru's just in case she might wake up needing something.

He had just finished his bath and pulled on a clean pair of leather pants and walked through the open door to Naru's room and found her sitting up in bed looking around with a frown on her pretty face. "Ah. You're finally awake-" He said almost cheerfully as he walked over to the bed and stood where she could see him. "And how are you feeling this fine afternoon?" Kakashi asked as he moved around the foot of the bed to the side so that he could see her better in the sun light streaming through the window.

She blinked and tipped her head back to look at him as her breath caught in her throat. Oh dear lord, this knight had to be one of the most savagely angelic looking men she had ever seen. The man was taller than her by a good three feet, his face was so sinfully beautiful that it was almost too hard to look at him, his skin was smooth and unblemished aside from a scar that ran down his left eye lid, along his cheek.

His long silver hair hung well past the middle of his back, some of the damp strands slipping over his broad shoulders as he stared down at her. Naru's mouth opened, closed, opened again, then snapped closed with an soft audible click of her little pearly white teeth as she stared up at him in wide eyed shock.

What was going through her mind? Kakashi wondered as he studied her as brazenly as she was studying him. His eyes drinking in her almost other worldly beauty, the rapid beating of her pulse in the base of her throat, a slow smile curving the corner of his lips. My, my, his little bride to be looked like she had just been stuck by lightening. Did he really look so different in the light of day?

Naru's mind was out of control.

Not surprising considering the closeness of the male standing by her bed. She doubted that she had ever felt so over whelmed by one of the opposite sex before. But she was feeling over whelmed now. This man was simply too big, too muscular and strong and beautiful for her liking. He was intelligent, perhaps even more cunning than she was, capable of leading soldiers and fighting in wars.

Oh she hated this man! He was going to ruin everything that she had worked so hard to accomplish, she just knew it.


	9. Chapter 9

"See something that you like my lady?" Kakashi asked in a soft teasing tone. Naru's face turned a lovely shade of pink and she growled at him, obviously embarrassed that he had pointed out that she had been staring at him.

"No. _Not a thing_." Naru lied as she gripped the bed sheets so hard that her knuckles turned white as Kakashi reached out and put his hands against the wall on either side of her head and leaned over her until his face was just a hairs breadth from her own, watching as her face turned a darker shade of pink and her eyes widened. He smirked down at her and hissed.

"Liar." Then moved back away from the bed, and her. Putting as much space between himself and temptation as the room itself would allow and sat back down in the chair that he had sat in late last night. Naru sputtered, her face turning a lovely shade of pink as her eyes flashed with temper.

She was not lying! Even if he was maybe one of the most physically beautiful men she had ever seen, she didn't like him one little bit! She was about to snap at him when he asked if she was feeling okay, taking all of the fire right out of her. "I-I'm fine." She stammered as he stared at her.

"Are you in pain?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"No." _Yes._Of course she was in pain. A bandit had split open her side with a sword, and the damn wound burned like fire. Kakashi looked as if he didn't believe her and she had to fight down the urge to throw something at him.

The wretch.

"You're lying _again-_" The knight said as he stood back up and moved over to the small table a few feet from the window and started going through the platter of bread, cheese, honey spread, and fruits. "But I'll let it slide for now since you're a bad patient. Are you hungry Naru?" Kakashi asked as he went through the foods and fixed a plate for her to eat, knowing her she was probably starving right now. The fever and loss of blood would have assured that her body would need more nourishment than normal just to stay healthy.

"A little bit." Naru admitted softly. Kakashi finished fixing her plate and grabbed some wine laced with madicinal herbs meant to help her with the pain and fever and walked over to her and set the plate in her lap and set the cup on the small table beside her bed.

"Try eating then." Kakashi said as she looked at the food and thinned her lips for a second before picking up a grape and putting it in her mouth. She chewed slowly before swallowing and repeated the action as he watched her. After a few minutes of watching her eat; he began to wonder why she was steering clear of the bread and honey spread and finally managed to ask.

"Naru, why are'nt you eating any of the bread?"

Naru swallowed the piece of cheese that she had been eating and looked at him. Wondering if he was aware of just how much the people of the castle hated her and how often they tried to kill her. It would seem that the knight wasn't aware of any of those things, or if he was he wanted to hear it from her. She might have answered him. Maybe. If she wasn't so used to the careless treatment.

She broke off a piece of bread and tore it up with her fingers and held the crumbs out to him. The knight frowned and took the crumbs form her and was about to ask what he was to do with the pieces when she pointed to the window. "Put those on the window sill and watch what happens."

He did as she told him and then moved back to the bed and sat down on the edge of the bed and looked toward the window as he heard the frantic flapping of small wings and watched as two little doves started to eat the crumbs. He frowned again, and for several second nothing happened, but after about a minute passed both of the doves started to cry out and flap their wings and tried to fly away, but fell off of the window sill dead.

Kakashi looked at Naru, his mis matched eyes cold and calculating as anger churned in his gut. "I could have eaten some of that myself Naru. Are you're people fools?" Naru shook her head no.

"They didn't bring the bread in until a little while ago. And I can see from here that you have already eaten."

"They were expecting that I wouldn't feel the need to eat it and instead give it to-" He made a low feral sounding growl and got up off of the bed, his expression murderous. Bloody hell! He had very nearly helped the bastards murder his own bride! "I'll kill them."

"There is no point." Naru said softly, and Kakashi looked at his future wife as if she were deranged.

"No point? Why exactly do you say that?" He asked in a low dangerous tone that gave Naru pause.

"Because even if you kill them, it won't change anything." Naru said after a second or so. If anything killing the ones who had tried to poison her would lead to more trouble, but she was sure that she didn't have to tell the knight this. After all he was a man of sound intelligence.

Kakashi took a moment or two to slowly count to ten then slowly, very slowly since his temper was just barely leashed, sat back down on the edge of the bed for a second and placed his hand against her nape and leaned in a little bit and touched his forehead to her temple and tried to calm himself. He wasn't a man who lost his temper easily, or often. But the thought of what could have happened if Naru hadn't already been aware of the poison in the bread, shook him greatly.

"Never again Naru. I am the lord here and you will soon be my wife. This will _not_ happen again." Kakashi vowed. He would see to it personally that the people of the castle were put in their place.

Even if he had to cast them all out, he would not abide such disloyalty to his bride.


	10. Chapter 10

Kakashi waited until his bride to be was sound asleep again before he made his way down to the kitchen with the poisoned bread and set the tray down on the nearest table in a very noisy fashion. Drawing attention from all of the servants in the room. "Lord Wolf, what are you doing in here?" One of the servants asked as he made his way across the room to take the tray from Kakashi.

Kakashi stopped him and motioned for all of the servants to come and sit at the table and noted that at least three people were eyeing the bread warily.

Ah, so they must be the guilty parties in this mess. Kakashi thought as anger churned in his gut. He forced himself to smile, assuring himself that soon these fools wouldn't ever threaten his bride again. "I have come here because the bread isn't to lady Naru's liking. So I wish for three of you to taste test it and tell me what is wrong with it." He said almost cheerfully as he gave them all a friendly smile.

The servants all looked at each other, exchanging wary looks because they didn't know this man very well and weren't sure if he was prone to violence or not. Kakashi pointed to the three servants who looked the guiltiest and motioned for them to sit down, noting how pale and sickly they appeared to be as soon as he singled them out. He smiled at them. _I've got you now you bastards. _Kakashi thought as he set a half loaf of bread in front of all three of them.

"Lady Naru said something about the bread not being sweet enough. Take a few bites and tell me if she is wrong."

The three servants looked at the bread as it were a snake. "My lord, I would rather-"

"That is we would not-"

Kakashi slammed his fist down on the table splintering the wood under his hand as he growled, "Eat the damn bread." The three servants shook as they reached for the bread and picked it up then hesitantly took a bite of the poisoned bread that they had sent up for Lady Naru.

The drug was fast acting if the birds from before had been any indication at all. And with in minutes all three servants were laying on the floor writhing in pain and begging for someone to save them. "My lord! Do something!" One of the servants cried in distress.

Kakashi gave the small group a feral look and smiled. "I _am _doing something." He was protecting his bride the only way that he knew how. He was making an example of the ones who had made an attempt on her life and hang their bodies on the keep walls outside, on either side of the gate.

It would serve as a warning that anyone with ill intentions towards his bride would suffer dearly for it. No point in killing them indeed.

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well, here is this chapter. I'm sorry it's so short.

It's not really clicking very well right now.

Nothing is, but that will change. just hang tight okay.


	11. Chapter 11

Naru slept through the commotion in the kitchen, and remained asleep even after Kakashi had returned to her bedside to relieve Asuma from guarding duty. It had taken him longer than he would have liked to watch the three would be assassins die, writhing in agony in the floor at his feet. Each of them begging him for mercy where they had none for their lady.

They had died like the swine they were, and he had made the others in the kitchen swear their fealty to him under the threat of immediate death. Once that was done he had called in several of his soldiers and ordered them to hang the dead bodies on the walls outside the keep then had returned to his brides side.

It was three hours till dawn and Kakashi was still wide awake and alert, his mis matched eyes on Naru's still figure nestled under the covers of the bed. She was developing a fever. He could tell from where he sat next to the hearth, her skin was flushed and damp with a fine sheen of sweat and she had been restless for the past hour. It was worrying to say the least. Especially when he had seen such slight fevers take the lives of grown men in their prime, before.

She turned over onto her back, and made a distressed sound and he was up out of his chair and across the room in an instant, laying his cool hand against her fevered skin, trying to gage how bad her fever was just by touching her. Her eyes opened for a second, looking glazed and unfocused as she looked at him for a second before turning her head a little bit, leaning into his touch and taking a shuddering breath before she started to shiver.

_Dammit_. Kakashi thought as he slowly pulled his hand back and made a frustrated sound and quickly went over his choices. He could stand here like a fool or he could slip into bed with her and use his body heat to help her sweat out the fever before it got truly bad.

He walked around to the other side of the bed and stripped off the fine royal blue linen shirt that he had been wearing and let it fall to the floor before he sat down on the edge of the bed and bent over and slipped off his leather boots then stood up again and pulled back the covers and carefully slipped into Naru's bed and gathered her body close to his own and cringed a little bit when he felt how wet her gown and chemise were against his naked skin.

She shivered violently, her teeth chattering a little bit as her body jerked against him, she inhaled sharply and then gave a breathy sigh as she settled down against him with her head resting on the feather mattress next to his chest. His lips curved up a little bit and he smoothed her damp hair back from her cheek and imagined that this is what she would look like on their wedding night.

It was the only thing that he could think of to take his mind off of his worry. And it was the last thought that crossed his mind before he drifted off to sleep with Naru wrapped safely in his arms, with the top of her head tucked under his chin.

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Naru awoke the next morning with an unfamiliar warmth next to her. And as comfortable as she was, she was also burning up. She shifted, trying to move away from the heat and was stopped by a sharp pain in her side. She gasped and bit her lower lip as tears slipped from the corners of her eyes and whimpered. Ye gods she would never escape from this place, where ever it was.

Kakashi was dragged back from the depths of sleep by the slight shifting of the small slender body in his arms. A soft gasp followed by the tiniest most heart breaking whimper, are what called him back to consciousness completely. His eyes opened and he shifted one of his hands, slipping it up the slender lushly curved body, until he reached her face and used his palm to tip her head a little bit and nearly swore when he realised that Naru was awake, and delirious with fever.

"Naru."

"Help...help me please..." Naru rasped weakly and Kakashi's heart clenched in his chest.

He palmed her cheek and raised up on his elbow and lightly touched his forehead to hers and jerked back with a terrified look on his face. Gods in heaven, she was burning up! "H-Help...please help..." Naru said again and he quickly got up and all but ran to her chamber door and was about to yell for someone to fetch a doctor when he realised that even if he sent for one, there was no guarantee that the doctor would come right away. Especially if the one that healed the people of the keep, hated her just as much as everyone else did.

He tried to think of some way to help her and after a second or so an idea occurred to him.

It would be a mite on the cruel side, considering her current condition. She wouldn't understand that he was trying to help her. She would fight him, and curse him and possibly even try to kill him, but he had to bring the fever down or she wouldn't live long enough for them to wed. He opened the door and was about to yell for Lady Naru's cousin Itachi when he noticed Asuma standing across from him, leaning against the wall decked out in his armor and blinked.

"What do you need my lord?" Asuma asked as he pushed away from the wall.

"Itachi. Lady Naru's cousin. Bring him here quickly-"

"Lady Naru's health has taken a bad turn then?" Asuma asked curiously as he studied his lord. Kakashi was pale. Much paler than he usually looked and there was an biting edge of fear surrounding him.

"Yes. Get Itachi. Hurry." Kakashi rasped before he closed the door and vanished from sight, no doubt to see to his lady before her illness killed her. The poor man.

"Aye, my lord." Asuma muttered to himself then ran down the hall to get the Lady's cousin.

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"H-Help..." Naru sobbed as someone strange appeared out of no where and started to wrap her in a heavy fur cloak.

"Hush now sweetling-" The stranger said softly as he slipped his arms around her and lifted her up and cradled her against him. He had the most beautiful eyes. Naru thought in her delirious state. The eyes of an angel. Kind and warm, yet so strangely menacing at the same time.

"I need you to save your strength." The angel said gently as he carried her out of her chamber and out into the hall.

"I'm going to die aren't I?" Naru asked in a moment of lucidity and her angel looked down at her with wide, stricken eyes.

"Nay sweetling. You'll live. You have my word. Just close your eyes-" Naru did as he told her too, figuring that if the angel wanted her to close her eyes that there must be a reason. That and she didn't want to incur his wrath.

Kakashi looked at Itachi who had heard his younger cousin ask if she was going to die, with a horrified look on his pale face. "The nearest stream. Where is it?" Kaskashi asked in a clipped tone. Itachi was silent for a moment, seemingly lost in his own little world when Asuma laid his mailed hand on the younger man's shoulder snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Stream. Stream. No streams with in five miles of here. There is a brook just outside of the village, about a mile from here. It's farmers land. You can use that." Itachi said quickly and Kakashi nodded his head curtly and looked at Asuma.

"Have my horse ready."

"Do you want it saddled?"

Kakashi shook his head no. "There is no time. I must get her fever down or she will die."


	12. Chapter 12

Kakashi rode his horse out of the keep at breakneck speed, leaving behind the armed guards that Asuma had assembled to ride with him, his sense of urgency driving him recklessly through the village and out into the fields until he reached the spot that Itachi had quickly described to him. He pulled on the horses mane, perhaps a little too hard since some of the hair came out as the horse whinnied and started to prance around a little bit.

He reached out and patted the side of it's neck and muttered a soft apology to the animal and with Naru still cradled in his arms he slipped off of it's back and made his way over to the rocky little stream and looked at it with a frown.

It was deeper than he thought it would be, the depth of the clear water would probably reach almost to his chest in some places and up to his shoulders in others. He would have to be careful about which place he chose to settle himself or he might accidentally end up drowning Naru when he sat down in the water.

He found a place close to the bank with a big rock submerged under the water and quickly calculated the depth of the water in this area before slipping into the frigid water and hissing softly as he tried to suppress the need to shiver violently and locked his arms around Naru to keep himself from dropping her as he made his way over to the rock and slowly counted to three to give his body time to adapt to the temperature before he bothered to sit down in the chest deep water.

Once he was sitting he figured that he had all of five seconds before Naru started thrashing around.

Naru felt something icy slither up her spine, engulfing her legs, torso and shoulders, leaving her feeling so cold and numb that for a second she thought that she was dying. Her eyes flew wide as panic surged through her system and she let out an ear piercing scream and started thrashing around in a desperate attempt to escape death's grip on her.

Kakashi bit down on his bottom lip and grunted as one hand came loose from the furs that he had wrapped her in and her short sharp little finger nails _almost_ separated his left eye from it's socket. Her nails ripping into the skin dangerously close to his eye before he could grab her hand.

He tightened his arm around her shoulders, crushing her against him as he reached up and grabbed her hand and pried it away form his face as he felt blood welling up and running down his face. Under normal circumstances he would have been angry to find himself being maimed in such a way, but he didn't seem to mind so much with Naru. Probably because she was so ill and didn't know what was going on.

For all he knew she probably thought that he was trying to kill her.

"Daddy!"

"Shhh. Quiet sweetling-"

"Daddy, help!"

"Naru your safe-" Kakashi said softly as he forced her hand back under water and re wrapped her in the fur as tightly as he dared and still the girl thrashed and cried out for her father to come and save her. After a second or so of trying to sooth her by telling her that she was safe, he changed tactics and tried something that he knew would catch her attention."Naru-" He said her name a little more sharply than he meant too considering how distraught she already was, but oddly enough the sharp tone in his voice got her to stop thrashing around a little bit as she looked up at him through wide, frightened eyes.

"Naru, sweetling it's me. Your future husband. Do you remember writing letters to me?" He asked gently as he hugged her against his chest and ran his numb fingers through her long soft hair as she blinked her eyes, a small frown on her face.

"M-My husband?"

"Yes. Do you remember?"

Naru nodded her head mutely and he smiled and leaned his head down and kissed her forehead before he continued speaking. "I'm sorry that I didn't come to you sooner love. I didn't realise that you were in such trouble. Can you ever forgive me?"

Naru nodded her head quietly and buried her face against his shoulder and started crying again.


	13. Chapter 13

Kakashi sat in the stream for two hours, until his body felt numb and was shaking almost uncontrollably. The muscles in his body felt stiff and difficult to move. He had stumbled several times, and almost dropped Naru while trying to get out of the water.

But in the end, his discomfort had been worth it.

Now three in a half days later, Naru's fever had finally broken and she was sleeping undisturbed in her bed nestled against Kakashi's side as he lay there trying to rest. He was exhausted from staying up to tend to her for the past few days and nights, and had yet to manage to drift off to sleep despite how comfortable he was laying next to his soon-to-be bride.

He was too busy thinking about the brief exchange of words they had had before she had lost consciousness when he had had her in the frigid waters. He couldn't seem to wrap his mind around some of the things that she had told him about her life before he had come for her.

She had sounded so frightened, so-

So damn_ sad_ about the fact that she had done such terrible things in order to survive and to protect her people.

She had _killed_ for them. Had _stolen_ for them.

And how did the fools repay her? With assassination attempts.

Frankly Kakashi didn't know what to think.

His lady bride had suffered far too much these past years. And though she had confessed some rather_ dark_ things to him, he wasn't the least put out by them. In fact he was rather proud to have a woman that was as cunning and ruthless as he was.

God knew that if the king had ordered him to marry some simpering, faint hearted, whining, miss, he'd have probably thrown himself from the battlements to avoid the sound of the woman's voice and all her whining. But with Naru, he wouldn't have to do that. He could easily sit and listen to her talk for hours.

She didn't whine. And aside from the fever she'd had, she probably didn't cry either. Not even when something was weighing heavily on her heart. And though he admired her strength, he worried for the silly girl.

She had far too many enemies for him to vanquish at once.

And simply taking his name alone wouldn't save her, neither would his reputation as the kings wolf. If anything those things would cause her more trouble since he had enemies as well. In fact he could think of a few who would do _anything_, lie, cheat, steal, murder; to get their hands on her once they were married.

Naru shifted in her sleep and buried her face against his arm, took a shuttering breath and snuggled up against his side a little more and settled back down. Kakashi chuckled softly and lifted one hand to run his fingers through her silken hair.

He'd bet that she would wake up some time on the morrow. Perhaps she'd even manage to eat something on her own as opposed to the broth that he had been forcing down her throat for the past few days to keep her strength up.

He lay there for another hour or so thinking about what he was going to do, and coming up with only a few answers to his own questions and finally some time when the sun started to rise and streak the sky in vivid hues of violet, yellow, orange and pink; he fell asleep with Naru tightly wrapped in his arms and didn't stir again until some time in the after noon.

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Naru woke up on the edge of her bed feeling better than she had a few days ago. The wound on her side no longer pained her. In fact the pain had died down to dull ache, making it easier for her to move so that she could get up out of her bed for what seemed like the first time in forever. She pushed the covers back away from herself and climbed out of bed and set her feet on the cold stone floor and stood up on unsteady feet and took several cautious steps.

Once she was sure that her legs would hold her up she walked over to the chest across the room and dug out some clean clothes and started to undress so that she could get dressed. Completely unaware of the sleeping man hidden under the blankets on her bed.


	14. Chapter 14

Once she was dressed in her favorite red and gold velvet dress, with her hair partially pulled back by a gold ribbon- she slipped her shoes on and made her way to the door and opened it and slipped out of the room.

She made it out into the hallway before noticing several men in armor standing a few feet away from the door talking in hushed tones and stopped. What were men in armor doing in her hallway?

She was about to ask when one of the men noticed her. "Lady Naru, what are you doing out of bed?" One of the men demanded in an agressive tone as he walked over to her and took hold of one of her hands.

"Our Lord Wolf has asked that you not leave the room without an armed escourt."

Naru wasn't sure what stunned her more. The mention of the knight, Wolf or the fact that the man holding her arm placed it on the crook of his elbow and slowly led her over to the stairs.

For a moment she wondered if he was going to shove her down the stone steps and make her break her neck. And was just a bit surprised when he helped her down the steps and into the great hall and politely seated her in her chair at the head of the table. "Wait here m'lady and I'll see if the cook has finished fixing you your food." The man said and Naru could only look up at him wide eyed and nod her head in shock.

What the hell had happened here while she'd been asleep? Had they been over run by those damndable fae?

She looked around the great hall in an effort to locate the talismans that had been made to keep the fae at bay and spotted them hanging over the door and windows right where they had been hung and scratched her head. Puzzled.

Well if the talismans were still up and in place then it was safe to assume that the keep hadn't been overrun by fae and their trickster ways. Did that mean then that Wolf had managed to get a letter from the king granting him permission to enter her home? She felt a dull ache forming behind her eyes and groaned. God, why couldn't she remember?

The man- she was assuming he was one of Wolf's knights- returned and set two plates piled high with food down in front of her and then stepped back so that he was standing three feet behind her at attention. Naru half turned in her seat and looked at him warily for a moment before blurting out. "Are you a fae?"

The man looked startled by her question but grinned and shook his head anyways. "Nay, m'lady. I'm merely a lowly soldier doing as he's been told by his lord."

She frowned as if she were disappointed and muttered, "Oh." Then turned back around in her seat and looked over her food. The two plates that the knight had set before her had far too much food on them ranging from breads and cheeses, meats, fruits, and sweets. Just how much did the knight think she could eat?

She wondered before turning around against and hesitantly asking. "Um, sir knight? Would it be okay if I fed some of this food to some birds or wild dogs?"

The man looked at her oddly for a moment before saying, "You needn't worry about poisoning any longer m'lady. Lord Wolf has replaced the cooks in the kitchen with some of his own people so there will be no chance of anyone ever again trying to feed you poison."

"Oh. Well that's reassuring..." Naru muttered to herself before asking the knight. "And where is Lord Wolf?"

"Sleeping. I'd imagine." The knight said with a slight upward curve of his lips as Naru frowned, not understanding why the man seemed so amused as she turned back around in her seat and started eating.

Everything was quiet for twenty minutes, allowing her enough time to eat most of what had been placed before her when all of a sudden a loud angry sounding roar echoed through the keep from upstairs. Naru dropped what had been in her hands at that moment in time, spilling her goblet of mead as she turned her head towards the stairs as a scandalously clad man in nothing put a braies and tights came barreling into the room holding a broad sword and looking murderous.

Naru flushed and gaped at him in slack jawed disbelief as mismatched eyes locked on her. Behind her the knight that had been kind enough to walk her down to the great hall, snickered as if the scene before him was funny.

She failed to see the humor in this. After all there was nothing funny about a madman running through her keep.


End file.
